Raven Creation Story
As Told By Rosie Dennis
Tahltan people have passed on our culture, history and Creation stories
orally from generation to generation for thousands of years. This Creation
story is about Raven and how he brought light to the people, as told by
Rosie Dennis to Dr. John Alderete, December 1999, Dease Lake.
Rosie Dennis.
Photo by Tanya Bob, May 2000
This is a Raven story. How silly he could be? He
could make himself into anything. Raven saw
that one guy, a wife and daughter had daylight,
sun and the moon. Only their place, a brush
house, had light. And this whole earth was just
pitch dark, yet people lived on it, and Raven
thinks to himself, “How could I get the lights
away from those people – how could I make
myself so that girl could swallow me?” Then
she’ll bear me and I’ll cry for daylight first, then
I’ll cry for the sun, and then I’ll cry for the
moon.” So he made himself a little dust – that’s
how crow does that, he made himself dust and
this young girl eats it. He puts himself on that
girl’s food so she could swallow him and have a
baby. The girl spots it, and tells her mother to
look at the dust on her food. They claimed
that’s the story. Those people were so neat and
clean that nothing would come near them
because they were the only ones that had light.
And the crow thinks, “Oh I don’t know what to
do now – what could I make myself so that girl
wouldn’t see me so she’ll swallow me? She has
a wood cup. And the crow thinks, “Oh, if I put
myself around the rim of that cup, make myself
a small little dust, I bet that way she’ll swallow
me.” So he did! Sure enough the girl didn’t see
it and she swallowed that little dust.
In a few months, it’s showing that she’s pregnant
– and her mother and Dad ask how did she get
pregnant, how could we find out? They couldn’t
find out, nobody came around, it was just them.
Finally she’s in labour; here it was the boy that
was that crow! The way grandma and the old
timers tell us, they say it’s a true story. So the
mother of the girl tells her husband, put up your
camp outside my daughter’s, she’s in labour. So
her Dad put up a little brush house. He moved
out of there, that’s our Indian way when a
woman is going to have a baby. When a woman
is in labour, the man has to move out till the
woman has the baby – so that’s what they did.
Here it was that boy! That baby grew up fast,
they figure he started creeping around in about a
week. The grandfather and the grandmother
loved that kid so much it isn’t funny! And when
he figured that he was big enough to carry the
daylight, sun and the moon, he cried for daylight.
But first he cried to his grandpa. He points to
that daylight, he can’t talk but he points to that
daylight. So his grandpa asks his wife, “Shall we
give to him? He wouldn’t spoil it.” The grandmother said “He might cry himself to death, give
it to him.” So the grandfather brings it down,
and hands it to him. He played with it so long,
he cried for the sun. Then he pointed to the sun
and he wanted that too. They both said the same
thing, he might cry himself to death – we better
give it to him, so they gave him that sun. When
he bounced the daylight and sun together, the
grandpa and the grandma just hollered! Then he
started to cry for the moon. They tried to give
him something else but he wouldn’t take it, he
wouldn’t quit crying so they figured that again he
might cry himself to death – so they gave him
that moonlight. Now he had all three of them –
he practised when they weren’t looking at him.
He asked himself, “I wonder if I can fly out
through that smoke hole – they have a big brush
house! I wonder if I can lift it and fly out through
that smoke hole?” No, he thought to himself.
So he waits for another day, I don’t know how
long after, then he start same thing again –
daylight first, then sun, and moonlight. They give
it all to him, and he plays with it and finally he
tests himself again to see if he can fly with it. All
of a sudden he could hold all three of them –
that daylight, sun, and moon. “Caw, caw, caw,”
and he flys out through that smoke hole. That’s
the time all the animals holler, the first thing
that hollers is the marten sitting on a tree, and
the grizzly bear was at the foot of that tree, under
that tree. He’s got no moccasins on. The marten
hollers, “Daylight break, daylight break.” The
goat runs to the bluff, the beaver dives in the
water, the bear runs in a den. When the daylight
broke, all the animals, wherever they settled,
that’s where they are today. The grizzly bear sat
under that tree where the marten was. He said,
“Daylight break, daylight break, run away
daylight break.” Grizzly bear put his moccasins
on the wrong way, that’s why grizzly bear’s back
foot is wrong you see – he was so excited he put
his moccasins on the wrong way. When they
heard daylight break, all the animals got so
scared they ran to where they live. It’s that way
right up to today – how does that grab you?
Told to Dr. John Alderete
December 1999
Dease Lake